iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| reply to Matt
Re: Hint at Rural Broadband? Well...
Verizon could roll out LTE onto all of their EvDO towers (most likely), and since we're talking about 700 MHz the signal would go significantly farther than PCS, somewhat farther than cellular. I'll defer to someone who knows something on this, but I'd say 30% farther would be a good estimate.
Also, LTE (WiFiOS?) could be comparable to DOCSIS 3 in speed, according to the specs, assuming a good signal. So in reality, provided Verizon has the backhaul for it, you could actually get a "third pipe", a la Clear/Xohm, but faster and with better coverage.
Actually, got a question: what's the spectral efficiency of LTE and how much spectrum does Verizon have? Because that may be a problem...compared with Clear, which has 4.5 bps spectral efficiency in good signal and 100 MHz of spectrum up for grabs.
So basically you'll end up with something akin to the transition from 1x (unsuitable for broadband but better than dialup) to EvDO (unsuitable for HD streaming but breoadband). Rollout will be slow, and in metro areas only, however eventually it'll make it out beyond where cable and DSL can reach, and speeds will be decent enough, provided the service isn't handiCAPPED, for people to consider it as a true third pipe. The transition to LTE is a bit similar; we're going from a DSL-speed network to something more akin to DOCSIS 2-3 cable. ROllout will be excruciatingly slow, but eventually people will have a better third pipe. |
